I'm originally from Australia. The capital is Canberra.

When I was a little kid, I once read something in a book about Kyoto, Japan. I knew about the city of Tokyo, but I had never heard of the famous old city of Kyoto. I thought it was a misprint. I thought someone had meant to write "Tokyo" but got the letters mixed up in a different order.

The capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. George Washington was "the father of our country." He led the army in the American Revolutionary War. He was the first President of the United States. Because of this, in the United States, hundreds of places are named "Washington." Very confusingly, there is also a state named Washington. It is completely different from Washington, D.C. Washington D.C. is strange. It isn't in any of the fifty states. It is not a state itself. It has an area of only 174 square kilometers. D.C. stands for "District of Columbia." Washington D.C. is on the east coast. It is the southern end of a very densely populated area, 700 km long, that also includes the cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia. It is really like one continuous city or "conurbation." The state of Washington is on the west coast, almost 5000 km. from Washington D.C. It is famous for the beauty of its woods. It includes the big city of Seattle, home of Microsoft, and of the Boeing company. In some parts of the country, the main streets of towns are often named "Main Street," but where I live, the main streets of many towns, including mine, are often named "Washington Street." Besides Washington, D.C. and the state of Washington, there are dozens and dozens of small towns named Washington. I've visited Washington, Massachusetts, population 539. Nobody really confuses those little towns, but fairly often someone will say something like "I'm going to Washington" and someone will ask "Washington State or Washington, D.C.?"

Ottawa, in the province of Ontario, in the country of Canada. Ottawa is derived from an Algonquin word which means "to trade". Ontario is a Huron word meaning "great lake". Canada is believed to be derived from a Huron-Iroquois word which means "village". Our capital is the trading place of ideas by the great lake in our village.

U.S - Washington D.C.